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Guanyu Zhou made history this Friday in Monaco by claiming the first ever win by a Chinese driver in the streets of the Principality. He also strengthened his early lead of the F2 Drivers’ Championship by winning Sprint Race 1 (30 laps), surviving a late Safety Car to win over Brazilian team-mate Felipe Drugovich, who benefitted from Denmark’s Christian Lundgaard retirement from second with mechanical issues.
The podium was completed by Israel’s driver Roy Nissany, his first ever podium in F2, after the DAMS’ racer held off Campos’ Ralph Boschung until the chequered flag. Russian Jüri Vips came on top of a race-long battle with Dan Ticktum for 5th, while French poleman for Race 3, Théo Pourchaire, continued his hot form by making up three places to 7th, ahead of Prema Racing’s Oscar Piastri.
One of just four drivers to have experienced the streets of Monaco in a Formula 2 car before, Zhou enjoyed a near-perfect getaway off the line, coolly pulling off into the distance when the lights went out. The Chinese racer was expecting to go head-to-head with his UNI-Virtuosi teammate Drugovich, but instead it was his Alpine Academy rival, Lundgaard, who was breathing down his neck at the exit of Turn 1. The ART ace had taken the inside curb to pass Drugovich for second at the start.
Having bridged a 3s gap between himself and Zhou, Lundgaard’s podium was suddenly under threat as smoke bellowed from the back of his ART. The Dane slowed significantly and began to drop down the order, before coming to a stop and bringing out a yellow flag. Also eyeing a maiden rostrum in F2, Boschung, after securing his best qualifying position at this level on Thursday,was pushing his Campos in pursuit of Nissany but couldn’t bridge the gap and settled for P4, his highest finish in F2.
Qualifying on the front row on Thursday, Robert Shwarztman experienced contrasting fortunes, pushing too hard and whacking the wall of Casino Square. The Russian limped back to the pits with half a front wing and attempted to get back out, but was eventually forced to retire.
The points’ scorers all stayed out of trouble until the closing lap, but just behind them Marcus Armstrong was closing in on Jehan Daruvala. The DAMS’ driver deemed the move a risk worth taking and dramatically dove past the Carlin driver at the finish line. He will then be on reverse grid pole for Sprint Race 2, early Saturday morning.
Formula 1 is back in Monaco, with 20 drivers including four World Champions (Lewis Hamiton, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Räikkkönen), who all won at least once in the streets of the Principality, and four younger drivers who never drove an F1 car on the toughest track on the calendar (Mick Schumacher, Yuki Tsunoda, Nicholas Latifi, Nikita Mazepin). The sun was shining and the show was brilliant in front of thousands of masked spectators having passed a PCR test in order to access the grandstands. In these very hot conditions, the quickest driver was Mexican, in the person of Sergio Pérez (Red Bull), who clocked his fastest lap in a promising 1 :12.487, only two seconds slower than Hamilton’s pole position in 2019 (1 :10.166)
Several experts such as Toto Wolff, the big boss at Mercedes F1, expected the Red Bulls to be faster, they were right : 10 minutes before the end of the session, Max Verstappen, followed by Sergio Pérez, settled down on the first lines of the timesheet and eventually, the Mexican recruit of the Austrian team won this first match. He did slightly better than a very promising Carlos Sainz, 2nd for his first outing in Monaco at the wheel of a Ferrari, Verstappen 3rd in the other Red Bull-Honda, and a very surprising Pierre Gasly, 4th in his Alpha Tauri. As they often do during the first free practice sessions, Mercedes drivers took it easy and posted the 5th and 6th times, half a second slower than their Mexican rival.
The crowd had all reason to be disappointed since local hero Charles Leclerc could only complete 4 laps before parking his beautiful Ferrari in the garage for the rest of the session, he had a major gearbox issue. « I don’t understand, is my engine broken ? », he asked his crew. In the meantime, his Spanish team-mate managed to clock the 2nd time of the session, only one tenth of a second slower than Pérez, ahead of Verstappen, in the other Honda-powered Red Bull. A very promising result, waiting for FP2 scheduled at 3 pm.
The only Frenchman entered in Formula 2 this year, and a rookie as well, Théo Pourchaire took a sensational pole position for Race 3, on Thursday, and could well be leading the pack for Sainte Dévote, Saturday at 17:15. In a beautiful manner, in his very last qualifying lap, by clocking a superb 1: 20. 985 which then revealed to be untouchable by the drivers involved in the second qualifying session.
The ART Grand Prix driver was rather discreet in free practice, in order to properly learn the Monegasque circuit on which he had never raced. This cautious bit of training paid off and he was half a second ahead of Australian Oscar Piastri (Prema Racing) and Russian Juri Vips (Hitech GP).
FIA Formula 3 runner-up last year, for a handful of points, Théo from Grasse, the perfume city, only had to wait for the result of the other session, led until two minutes from the end by Chinese Guanyu Zhou (Uni-Virtuosi), the championship leader after the opening of the F2 season in Bahrain. Until Russia’s Robert Shwartzman (Prema Racing), who had set the best time in free practice and finished 4th of the series last year, with 4 wins, achieved his best lap in 1: 21.403, just ahead of Briton Dan Ticktum (Carlin) that he had already beaten this morning in free practice.
This is the first pole position for 17-year-old Pourchaire in Formula 2, after an 8th and 6th place in Bahrain at the start of the season. A real feat for this absolute “rookie”, a member of the Sauber Drivers Academy. French fans will surely follow him closely during the three F2 races scheduled for this weekend in the streets of the Principality. Starting tomorrow at noon …
The second Free Practice session of F1’s comeback in Monaco confirmed a trend already evident in the first session: Scuderia Ferrari is a candidate for the podium on Sunday, in the 78th Monaco Grand Prix, judging by the best time of Charles Leclerc this afternoon, ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr: 1: 11.684, a tenth better than his Spanish teammate, although the local hero had been unable to compete this morning in FP1. There was a major gearbox problem on his beautiful red car, so he could only complete 4 laps, but this issue was solved in due time by the Scuderia mechanics.
The session ended four minutes earlier than scheduled, due to a touch at the entry of the Casino turns for Mick Schumacher, the son of the 7-time World Champion and 5-time winner in the Principality. Mick is the defending Formula 2 champion but he drives an F1 car for the first time in Monaco, on this very demanding track. Just like his teammate Nikita Mazepin, Canada’s Nicholas Latifi (Williams) and Japan’s Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri). It was not easy for them on Thursday and they will have one more free practice session Saturday morning to prepare for qualifying.
At the top of the timesheet, Charles Leclerc ended a successful session in style, using his soft tyres to keep a symbolic advantage over teammate Sainz and reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton until the end. He is still a long way from Sir Lewis’s pole position in 2019 (1: 10.166) but the main thing is that the Scuderia has worked hard this winter and maybe it will pay off at one point, in the next days or weeks.
Behind the two Ferraris, Hamilton only used medium tires on his Mercedes, so as not to reveal his game too much, and took 3rd place, ahead of Max Verstappen, in the fastest Red Bull, since his Mexican teammate, Sergio Pérez, the fastest in FP1, had to settle for 8th. Contrary to this morning, Pérez was slower than Valtteri Bottas (5th) in the other Mercedes, Lando Norris (6th) in his McLaren in Gulf livery, and the excellent Pierre Gasly (7th) in his Alpha Tauri. For the record, Sebastian Vettel, in his Aston Martin, made it into the Top 10. He has already triumphed twice here in Monaco: in 2011 in a Red Bull and then in 2017 in a Ferrari. This was the last win for the Scuderia in the Principality, in front of thousands of delighted tifosi …
To kick off the 2021 edition of the Porsche Supercup, this Thursday in Monaco, there were 28 Porsche 911 GT3s on the track, headed by defending champion Larry ten Voorde. The Dutchman tried to enforce his status as outgoing champion and thought he had succeeded when he completed a lap in 1: 34.165, owed just 30 thousandths better than Dylan Pereira. Then the Luxemburger from BWT Lechner Racing got back in front, in 1: 34.062, just before the session was definitively interrupted, five minutes from its end, by a big touch immediately dealt with by the ACM marshals.
Behind Pereira and Ten Voorde, Turkey’s Ayhancan Güven, entered by the same team as Pereira, took 3rd place in this session, followed at three tenths by Dorian Boccolacci (4th), the former F2 driver from France who debuts in Supercup after having shone in the Porsche Carrera Cup last year, in his home country. Another French driver entered the Top 10, Florian Latorre (9th), in his Porsche aligned by CLRT, the team recently founded by driver Côme Ledogar.
Qualifying will take place Friday morning at 10:00 a.m. and Sunday morning’s race at 10:30 a.m. promises a lot, as six drivers completed the free practice session grouped together in the same second. There will be 8 Supercup rounds again this year, still raising the curtain on F1, and still in Europe. The Porsche Supercup was created in 1993 and was then run by Jost Capito, who is now the new Williams F1 Team Principal.
No F1 on the menu this Friday in Monaco, because the stars are resting, but a busy morning with Formula Regional by Alpine (qualifying between 7:55 am and 9:00 am, in two groups), then Porsche Supercup qualifying (at 10:00 am) which will be followed by Formula 2 Race 1 (at 11:45 am, 42 laps). Frenchman Théo Pourchaire, who took pole position on Thursday, will have to wait until Saturday to try and take advantage of it, in Race 3 at 5.15pm, after the qualifying session for F1.
Frenchman Hadrien David clocked the best time in the free practice session for Formula Regional by Alpine, early on Thursday morning, aboard his 280hp and 665- kilos (driver included) single-seater powered by a Renault engine. A member of R-Ace Racing, the Junior Team for ART Grand Prix, the Royan-native is only 17 and won the title last year in the French Formula 4 Championship.
It was his first outing in the streets of the Principality and he was very impressive, his best lap in 1 :30.202. This proved two tenths of a second better than Britain’s Alex Quinn (Arden Motorsport) and half a second quicker than Italy’s Gabriele Mini (ART Grand Prix). And this time is equivalent to the best times for F1s of the 70s which raced here during Grand Prix de Monaco Historique, at the end of April. This is very promising in the perspective of the one and only qualifying session, early Friday morning, and for both races scheduled this weekend, Saturday (10 :15) and Sunday morning (12 :00).
Russia’s Robert Shwartzman (Prema Racing) has already shown, in Formula 2 free practice Thursday morning, that his experience could prove useful this weekend in Monaco, where three races are scheduled on the F2 agenda. Last year, he finished 4th of the series, with 4 wins, which was an impressive result for a rookie. The year before, he was crowned FIA F3 Champion, for his first and only season in the category.
With a fastest lap in 1 :22.041, the St Petersbourg native was half a second faster than Britain’s Dan Ticktum (Carlin), followed on the timesheet of this session by another Russian driver, the very promising Juri Vips (Hitech GP). One of their compatriots, Gianluca Petecof (Campos), had a major issue when his engine blew up at Sainte-Dévote, producing a huge smoke cloud when he tried to continue driving towards the Casino. He then stopped his car in a safe place, surrounded by ACM marshals who proved very efficient, as always.
The Orange army is famous in the whole world of motorsport and had to act several times Thursday morning, always with total commitment and efficiency, in order to take care of single-seaters in deep trouble. The Chinese leader of the series, Guanyu Zhou (Uni-Virtuosi), had to be happy with the 9th time of the session, almost one and a half second slower than Shwartzman. Not very encouraging for him before qualifying scheduled for today, between 1 :20 and 2 :00, for two groups of 11 cars.
This digital catering service will give you the opportunity to follow the ontrack racing show with the respect of sanitary rules.
Rx Eat, a 100% foodie app, allows each user to get a large selection of meals delivered, with fresh, local, quality products prepared in a short circuit.
In partnership with the association FAR (Foi, Action, Rayonnement) for the Grandstand T and the AS Monaco Rugby for the Grandstand NOP, the free App will be deployed in order to offer a digital and quality catering service during the Grand Prix.
Spectators will have the possibility to lunch without to leave their seat.
In the current sanitary context, the App is applying with 2 objectives:
How does the RX Eat App work?
Spectators will be able to download the application for free, by scanning the QR code on the flyers distributed at the event entrance, directly on their smartphone or tablet.
After selected its grandstand, each spectator will be able to choose between a large choice of sandwiches, salty or sweet snacks, drinks, and popcorns.
Once order confirmed with the located seat filled and the order payed (by credit card or cash), your booking will arrive directly to you in the grandstand, by the service or the FAR and ASM Rugby association volunteers .
Download RX Eat App on Apple Store or Google Play
Follow the 78th edition of the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco throughout the week-end on CANAL+ with an exclusive program.
The young F1 driver retired, Romain Grosjean, will start its new career of TV Consultant with Canal Plus this week-end.
You will have also the possibility to watch all live the F1 sessions on Monaco Info, and also the Porsche Supercup Race and the Lap Tour of the Princely Couple from 14:10 on Sunday 23rd .
Find all the TV Broadcast Coverage by countries on the following link: https://www.formula1.com/en/toolbar/broadcast-information.html
